Burlap & Barrel

The spice industry is dominated by big commodity buyers with all the power to set prices while farmers take on all the risk for production. Intermediaries make the most money while bearing little to no risk, whereas farmers earn pennies on the dollar and their incomes fluctuate based on factors outside their control. The result is flavorless spices with no connection to origin.

Burlap & Barrel is a Public Benefit Corporation that works directly with smallholder farmers in 27 countries to source spices and set farmers up to grow, dry, clean, grind, blend, and prepare for export, keeping the most value at the farmer level. They have been a consistent partner to the farmers, setting quantity projections ahead of the planting season, providing down payments during the harvest season, and sharing support and expertise throughout the process.

Burlap & Barrel has supported over 2,000 farmers, purchased more than 700,000 pounds of spices, paying over $3.3 million to partner farmers.

Kiva's loan will impact approximately 820 small farmers in Vietnam, Guatemala, India and Tanzania, where the company has partnered with the Jane Goodall Institute to source honey. These commitments enable Burlap and Barrel’s partner farmers to grow organically/regeneratively knowing that there's a customer on the other end. This is Burlap’s second loan through the Kiva Social Enterprise program. View their previous loan here.